{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-durbin-introduce-legislation-empowering-americans-to-bring-liability-claims-against-ai-companies/", "Hawley, Durbin Introduce Legislation Empowering Americans to Bring Liability Claims Against AI Companies", "2025-09-30", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) joined Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in introducing the Aligning Incentives for Leadership, Excellence, and Advancement in Development (AI LEAD) Act. This legislation would classify AI systems as products, allowing for liability claims when an AI system causes harm.\n\n\u201cWhen a defective toy car breaks and injures a child, parents can sue the maker. Why should AI be treated any differently? This bipartisan legislation would apply products liability law to Big Tech\u2019s AI, so parents\u2014and any consumer\u2014can sue when AI products harm them or their children,\u201d Senator Hawley said.\n\n\u201cDemocrats and Republicans don\u2019t agree on much these days, but we\u2019ve struck a remarkable bipartisan note in protecting children online. Big Tech\u2019s time to police itself is over. Kids and adults across the country are turning to AI chatbots for advice and information, but greedy tech companies have designed these products to protect their own bottom line\u2014not users\u2019 safety,\u201d said Senator Durbin. \u201cBy opening the courtroom and allowing victims to sue, our bill will force AI companies to develop their products with safety in mind. Our message to AI companies is clear: keep innovating, but do it responsibly. I thank Senator Hawley for joining me in introducing this bipartisan bill, and I look forward to passing it into law.\u201d\n\nThe AI Lead Act would:\n\nClassify AI systems as products, allowing for product liability claims to be brought against companies if their AI system causes harm.\n\nIncentivize AI companies to design their systems safely rather than rushing AI systems to market.\n\nHold AI companies accountable without stifling innovation by allowing for the continued development of beneficial AI systems.\n\nSenators Hawley and Durbin continue to work to hold Big Tech accountable. In June, they advanced their STOP CSAM Act unanimously through a Senate Judiciary Committee markup. The STOP CSAM Act would crack down on the proliferation of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) by allowing victims to sue companies that host it.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-durbin-introduce-legislation-empowering-americans-to-bring-liability-claims-against-ai-companies/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.360301859676838, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}